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It is recorded in the Gemara:Rebbi Avraham, Rebbi Yose, Rebbi Shlomo and Rebbi Ariel were walking along the colonnade on the eastern side of the Temple Mount, near the area closest to the Holy of Holies. As they walked along, Rebbi Yose came upon a carcass of a ben-yomo, a day-old bird, lying on the floor. Rebbi Avraham asked "What is the din [law]? Are we all ritually impure on Har HaBayit from contact with a carcass?" Rebbi Shlomo said, "Just this week, we learned that contact with a carcass renders you impure, but this is only from a dead 'sheretz' such as lizard or salamander. But from a kosher bird, you are only impure from eating it. We can surmise that bird is kosher." Rebbi Ariel looked up and saw the swallows that had built a nest under the roof of the colonnade. "These are probably the birds of the ben-yomo. Listen and you can hear the chicks in their nest. We have no reason to believe the bird is not kosher. Praised are the words of Rebbi Shlo…

(To download the Al HaNissim prayer, go to http://machonshilo.org/en/images/stories/files/Al_HaNissim_YA_YY_Revised.pdf) As was the case last year, the observance of Yom HaAtzmaout is on the 6th of Iyyar although the State of Israel was actually declared on the 5th of Iyyar. The holiday was delayed so that the Memorial Day Services of the 4th of Iyyar could begin tonight--Sunday night--rather than Saturday night and preserve the sanctity of the Shabbat avoid the temptation to prepare for the various ceremonies or drive to them on the Shabbat. If Judaism lends importance to actual date of an event, how can we reconcile the following issues: While Rav Goren zt"l ruled that the proper day should be observed, how can we separate ourselves from the public who observes the deferred day?When should we recite the Hallel prayer? Isn't the recitation of the Hallel a prayer in vain if we're not saying it on the day of the miracle?When do we add the Al-HaNissim prayer to our Birkath Ha…